Many Mumbais
Mukul Kesavan in the Telegraph:
The Taj, we were told over and over again, is an ‘iconic’ building. I think we can say without controversy that Victoria Terminus is much the greater landmark both architecturally and in terms of the number of people who pass through it. It may not be ‘home’ to them, in the way that the Taj clearly was for the many fluent habitués of South Mumbai who filed past the cameras of the English news channels, but more Mumbaikars have taken trains to and from VT than have sampled the hospitality of the Taj. And yet we didn’t have people on television reminiscing about the station and what it meant to them, that storied building that has been the beginning and the end of a billion journeys. Even the details of the killing, the alertness of the public address system operator who had platforms cleared and thus minimized the carnage, trickled out later, as the platform tragedy that had happened was eclipsed by the hotel tragedy that was still ‘breaking news’.
Image of CST (formerly Victoria Terminus) from here.
Another article that echoes the same sentiment.
http://openspace.org.in/node/808
Comment by ammani — December 6, 2008 @ 10:31 am
Am afraid it is a classic case of missing the woods for the trees!
This attack was not directed at the monuments as it was often made to believe by either a naïve or an ignorant journo, but against different segments of people; one for high value targets while the other for easier and numerous preys.
Regarding the electronic media’s attention to the Taj over CST, probably Yash Chopra’s syndrome provides an answer! Indians, probably at the subconscious level, would like to look at beautiful things even in a tragedy and the business savvy electronic media is aware of their pulse.
What is going unreported is the role of drug consumption in Mumbai in indirectly financing this terrorist operation. It is a known fact that terrorist organisations targeting India have limited access to the other sources of funds and thrive mainly on drug money. When the police, the political establishment, and the affluent & influential are turning a blind eye at the proliferation of drugs in Mumbai, they ought to know that they are only making a sinister sophisticated operation such as this-which needs good money- that much more easier.
Comment by Naveen — December 6, 2008 @ 8:09 pm
While there is a skew towards the upper crust and middle class (even though there were more killings at VT. + security forces from the rank and file who died don’t have their pics up anywhere), to be fair the attention was because the Taj was burning, the damage evident and it took 3 days to end the siege. Were CST to be damaged and under siege I believe the response would be the same.
Though I don’t see why at all a building burning is more important than people who died. At one point people seemed more distressed by that.
Comment by Shama — December 7, 2008 @ 12:34 am
I think the comment at [December 7, 2008 @ 12:34 am] makes a valid point.
Comment by Arnold — December 7, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
Gnani Sankaran wrote a similar piece. I agree that the media should have covered everything fairly uniformly but the hostage situation was happening at the Taj and not at CST. The attack was over and done there. If the attack had completed at the Taj in 2-3 hours and a hostage situation was there at the CST, we would have seen the media focus their attention there. The media went everywhere but the situation was still undecided at the Taj and hence the extra helping of attention. I address some of these points and more on my blog though I am not quoting Kesavan…
Comment by Eroteme — December 9, 2008 @ 6:48 am
Gnani Sankaran wrote a similar piece. I agree that the media should have covered everything fairly uniformly but the hostage situation was happening at the Taj and not at CST. The attack was over and done there. If the attack had completed at the Taj in 2-3 hours and a hostage situation was there at the CST, we would have seen the media focus their attention there. The media went everywhere but the situation was still undecided at the Taj and hence the extra helping of attention. I address some of these points and more on my blog though I am not quoting Kesavan…
Comment by Eroteme — December 9, 2008 @ 6:51 am